How can I get Express.js to 404 only on missing routes?

Question

At the moment I have the following which sits below all my other routes:

app.get('*', function(req, res){   console.log('404ing');   res.render('404'); }); 

And according to the logs, it is being fired even when the route is being matched above. How can I get it to only fire when nothing is matched?

Answer 1

You just need to put it at the end of all route.

Take a look at the second example of Passing Route Control:

var express = require('express')   , app = express.createServer();  var users = [{ name: 'tj' }];  app.all('/user/:id/:op?', function(req, res, next){   req.user = users[req.params.id];   if (req.user) {     next();   } else {     next(new Error('cannot find user ' + req.params.id));   } });  app.get('/user/:id', function(req, res){   res.send('viewing ' + req.user.name); });  app.get('/user/:id/edit', function(req, res){   res.send('editing ' + req.user.name); });  app.put('/user/:id', function(req, res){   res.send('updating ' + req.user.name); });  app.get('*', function(req, res){   res.send('what???', 404); });  app.listen(3000);  

Alternatively you can do nothing because all route which does not match will produce a 404. Then you can use this code to display the right template:

app.error(function(err, req, res, next){     if (err instanceof NotFound) {         res.render('404.jade');     } else {         next(err);     } }); 

It's documented in Error Handling.